Chapter 4

• Amari jolted and tried to sit forward and couldn’t. Something was restraining her. The cloth against her face reminded her of the recent events. Had she drifted off or had they darted her? How long did this crap stay in her system? Her mouth was throbbing, her tongue felt thick and so dry, there was going to be no swallowing or licking her swollen lip.
• She rested her head back against what felt like a tree and closed her eyes. She felt like she’d drank about ten more drinks than her body could handle. Had a hangover ever felt this bad? She didn’t think so. Taking a deep breath, she snarled at the smell of this material, it was rank. Her cat was there, more alert than she was, so that was good, if she’d had to wait for her animal, she would have been a little bit miffed with that. Okay, girl. What do we know?
• The information was a shortlist. She’d been shot with a dart through the window, while she drove. She quirked an eyebrow, that was almost an impressive shot. Too bad the one that had done it was going to regret it when she got out of this. Her arm, face, and shoulder throbbed, so clearly, she’d crashed the van. Assholes. They’d put some stinky thing over her head and carried her. She scowled and then shot her in the ass on the walk. Oh yeah, the one that had a fondness for the tranq darts was due some hurt, courtesy of her. Blowing out a breath, she clamped down on the rage, she couldn’t afford to expend the energy she might need later. Focus, her cat reminded her. Next, it was a ride in the jeep. She smirked and then winced; her mouth hurt. At least one of them, the one that shot her in the ass if she wasn’t mistaken had a messed-up face from her foot. Score one point for her. And then—a big blank until she just woke up. She was tied—she tried to rock to assess how and didn’t like the result, her hands were bound behind her, and she was tied by the freaking collar around her neck. How had she forgotten the collar part? Last, she didn’t have her jacket or boots on, and her ass was cold from the ground. Overall, none of it was encouraging at all.
• What she needed was this thing off her face, so she could see what time it was and where she was. Slowing her breathing, she listened for her new friends. Someone was moving to her right. She held her breath for a second so her breathing inside the hood didn’t funnel to her ears. There were two voices further away, sounded like they were getting closer, so they were walking. Okay, she huffed out her breath—you’ve got this. Assess the situation.
• “I still don’t see why we’re all the way up here.” That was a new voice, one she hadn’t heard before.
• “Dead zone.” The one that had been driving said. “We don’t know if they’re using an internal tracker or not.”
• Amari had to work on not chuckling, letting someone stick a tracker in her body—not happening.
• “Wouldn’t we have been told if they were?” That was the one that had carried her.
• “Last I heard access was cut off,” he sounded very nasal, must be the one that met her foot, “chances are they found the breach and have fixed it.”
• All of this fit with what Jesse had already told them. The tech team was already all over that. There were four of them now. Four was more of a challenge than two, but she loved a good challenge. The longer she sat here playing like she was still unconscious, the more she might learn.
• “How long are you going to be gone?” Nasal asked.
• “By the time I get down from here to where I can get a signal, it will be late.”
• Where the hell had they brought her? Down? Shit—the mountains.
• “I’ll be back up tomorrow, or whenever they reply.”
• “She’s worth double.” The new one said.
• “I know what she’s worth. Just make sure she’s undamaged—in every way.” He was obviously in charge, the authority in his voice was clear. She might go a little easier on him for that order, maybe. Doubtful.
• “We know the drill.” The one that had carried her said, he sounded bored.
• At least they had no plans to hurt her, that was a plus for them—even with her hands bound, she wouldn’t go down easy if they didn’t drug her anymore. Her cat rolled through her, telling her to stay calm and figure this out.
• “When she wakes up, make sure you get some water into her, those darts dehydrate you.”
• “We’ll feed and water her, no worries.” The new one answered. “Just bring back some extra blankets, that storm moving in is going to suck up here.”
• She frowned; a storm would slow her down when she got out of this mess. Her cat had a nice warm coat, so she’d simply just stay in that form until she cleared it.
• “See you tomorrow.”
• Amari listened to him walking away and noticed none of the others moved as he did. Was he Alpha, or just the one in charge? Not that it mattered, one less for her to deal with was fine by her. Now, she just needed to get them to take this damn thing off her head.
• They didn’t talk to one another, she could hear one of them walking away, one of them moving around on something that sounded like canvas or plastic of some kind and the other one hadn’t done anything.
• “Give me a hand.” The new one said, “I want to get the tarps over these to insulate them from the snow.”
• At least he had brains, she decided. Okay, time to see the faces that went with the voices. Play it calm her cat reminded her. Moving her head, she moaned like she was just coming to—hopefully it inspired them to check on her.
• She heard the pause in movement and moaned softly again.
• “I’ll check on her, you go get some wood for the fire.” The new one said.